Surround speaker placement in weirdly shaped room

naren

naren

Audiophyte
Looking for surround placement advice! This room isn't great for a surround setup and I know that, so not looking for perfection here. While the center of the couch should be the primary listening position, realistically the chaise is where I'm going to be more often than not. I really hate the feeling of sitting close to a speaker—for me it really ruins the immersion so I'd like to avoid placing an ear-level speaker right behind either side of the chaise if possible. I don't know much about placing surrounds below or above ear level but maybe that could be an option? Above ear level probably isn't ideal in an Atmos setup though. All the top speakers are already installed and moving them is not really an option.

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Equipment: Denon AVR X4500H, ELAC F5.2/C5.2/B5/2 + 4x Polk OWM3 (ceiling) in a 5.1.4 config. Also the "walls" are floor to ceiling glass on all sides and the ceilings are 12ft high.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Looking for surround placement advice! This room isn't great for a surround setup and I know that, so not looking for perfection here. While the center of the couch should be the primary listening position, realistically the chaise is where I'm going to be more often than not. I really hate the feeling of sitting close to a speaker—for me it really ruins the immersion so I'd like to avoid placing an ear-level speaker right behind either side of the chaise if possible. I don't know much about placing surrounds below or above ear level but maybe that could be an option? Above ear level probably isn't ideal in an Atmos setup though. All the top speakers are already installed and moving them is not really an option.

View attachment 53037
Equipment: Denon AVR X4500H, ELAC F5.2/C5.2/B5/2 + 4x Polk OWM3 (ceiling) in a 5.1.4 config. Also the "walls" are floor to ceiling glass on all sides and the ceilings are 12ft high.
I think you now have the record for a nightmare room. Honestly it is a waste of money putting a sound system in that room.

If you must, forget Atmos completely. Since the ceiling speakers are in, I would use the front ceilings as surrounds, and the rear ceilings as rear backs. You can absolutely not do an Atmos set up in that room. That room is really a 3.1 room max. That would likely give you the best result.

You real solution is to find a different room for your home theater.

We basically see this a lot, where a great many rooms are really a complete non starter for complex stems with multiple speakers, and the best solution is 2.1 or 3.1 at the most. That room is not really suitable for anything other than to be a living space.

Home theater systems really do demand dedicated rooms.
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
Looking for surround placement advice! This room isn't great for a surround setup and I know that, so not looking for perfection here. While the center of the couch should be the primary listening position, realistically the chaise is where I'm going to be more often than not. I really hate the feeling of sitting close to a speaker—for me it really ruins the immersion so I'd like to avoid placing an ear-level speaker right behind either side of the chaise if possible. I don't know much about placing surrounds below or above ear level but maybe that could be an option? Above ear level probably isn't ideal in an Atmos setup though. All the top speakers are already installed and moving them is not really an option.

View attachment 53037
Equipment: Denon AVR X4500H, ELAC F5.2/C5.2/B5/2 + 4x Polk OWM3 (ceiling) in a 5.1.4 config. Also the "walls" are floor to ceiling glass on all sides and the ceilings are 12ft high.
I totally empathize not everybody can have ideal setups it's doable you'll just have to get creative on probably bookshelves on stands for the surrounds luckily you have have the one spot you sit at so a center channel under the TV should be within 30 degrees off axis I think so that should be okay I like you using the sub nearfield like you do which sub do you have?

You wouldn't put the bookshelves right beside and behind you one on one side off the couch and the other off a bit from the subwoofer should work

As you said it won't sound ideal. But we work with what we got and that will still sound a lot better than a sound bar a lot you'll still have a blast with your system trust me

As far as surrounds by you the avr can do a great job with level matching distances eeyc so it's not annoying in my first home I had a less then ideal setup and I was able to setup something not perfect but still good I'll see if I can post a link to that thread after I wake up

Good luck with the setup!
 
G

Golfx

Full Audioholic
Looking for surround placement advice! This room isn't great for a surround setup and I know that, so not looking for perfection here. While the center of the couch should be the primary listening position, realistically the chaise is where I'm going to be more often than not. I really hate the feeling of sitting close to a speaker—for me it really ruins the immersion so I'd like to avoid placing an ear-level speaker right behind either side of the chaise if possible. I don't know much about placing surrounds below or above ear level but maybe that could be an option? Above ear level probably isn't ideal in an Atmos setup though. All the top speakers are already installed and moving them is not really an option.

View attachment 53037
Equipment: Denon AVR X4500H, ELAC F5.2/C5.2/B5/2 + 4x Polk OWM3 (ceiling) in a 5.1.4 config. Also the "walls" are floor to ceiling glass on all sides and the ceilings are 12ft high.
Welcome. I too have a non-ideal room. Lots of glass, lots of light and the favorite gathering area for family and guests—with an inexhaustible supply of grandkid toddlers. I liked TLS guy suggestion of using your mounted tops as surrounds. But if you get the audyssey app you can then save different configurations and reload them into the denon (quick change required for amp assign). For instance you could configure them as suggested and see how you like the sound. Because the speakers are ceiling mounted you will get LOTS of above your head sound effects just from the surround feeds.

Because of my grandkids I have to mount my surrounds higher up on the walls (5ft). My atmos speakers are higher still (10.5ft) but not the recommended math of Dolby—but hey, who cares. You could also add your surrounds on the walls or perhaps stands. Whatever you wind up with it will sound MUCH better than now and you will not be disappointed with the result because perfection isn’t an option—is it? My surrounds are on tilt/swivel hangers and can be directed to my liking.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
W

Wardog555

Full Audioholic
Find a different room is my best recommendation
 
3db

3db

Audioholic Slumlord
Looking for surround placement advice! This room isn't great for a surround setup and I know that, so not looking for perfection here. While the center of the couch should be the primary listening position, realistically the chaise is where I'm going to be more often than not. I really hate the feeling of sitting close to a speaker—for me it really ruins the immersion so I'd like to avoid placing an ear-level speaker right behind either side of the chaise if possible. I don't know much about placing surrounds below or above ear level but maybe that could be an option? Above ear level probably isn't ideal in an Atmos setup though. All the top speakers are already installed and moving them is not really an option.

View attachment 53037
Equipment: Denon AVR X4500H, ELAC F5.2/C5.2/B5/2 + 4x Polk OWM3 (ceiling) in a 5.1.4 config. Also the "walls" are floor to ceiling glass on all sides and the ceilings are 12ft high.
Thats a really difficult room to work with. I would replace the chaise with a pair of power recliners and not too wide either to at least optimize something.
 
Eppie

Eppie

Audioholic Ninja
@naren That is a tough room, indeed. You are being discouraged from Atmos because the specification is more strict than for 5.1 or 7.1 and your current ceiling speaker locations are not correct for that. I would agree with the recommendation to try them as side and rear surrounds. Not ideal since they should be ear level, but you have few options in that room. (My surrounds are ceiling mounted for lack of space.)

The right front should be ok but that left front could be an issue because it is facing a glass wall. You will get little reflected sound from the right and too much from the left. If you can pull heavy curtains over the glass in front of the left speaker when using the system that will help. Another tactic is to toe-in your speakers. Experiment with different speaker angles and try using an extreme toe-in as well. This is where you change the front speakers from pointing straight forward to having them angled in. Extreme toe-in is when the speakers are angled so that they cross in front of your seating position, instead of behind. It may look a little odd but it can improve the sound in certain situations and is free to try. Use whatever angle sounds best and also experiment with the distance to the wall behind the main speakers.
 
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